The Second Time Around
by A Million Mad Musings
Summary: Wow what an original title I hear you say sarcasm its 11pm give me and break im rubbish at titles! What happens when Arthur finds a mysterious man inside a tree? and more importantly why does he recognise him? Arthur swears he's seen him somewhere...and who is this Morgana person he keeps talking about? Arthur life is turned upside-down as chaos ensues. Reincarnation fic


**Hey guys! Here is my new fanfiction hope you all enjoy it. Unfortunately it wont be slash but most of my fics turn out so brotherly that if your inclined to read it that way go knock yourself out its all yours! Will be chapter one of a much bigger fic. Will be rated T for language and violence **

**Musings xxx**

The doors slid open with a metallic hum. Looking around, Arthur had the distinct impression that he was not meant to be here. Wherever he had stumbled into was pitch black and with the slight pressure in his ears Arthur could tell he was deep underground somewhere. He was just about to leave when suddenly the light flickered on. He jumped, thinking that it was a guard or someone spotting him, but then realized that it must have been an automatic light as there was no-one apart from him in the room.

But it wasn't a room. A huge cavern, big enough to park a jumbo jet in was quietly awaiting for him to walk into. If the fact that a giant cave beneath a military base wasn't strange enough, what his eyes caught on next was beyond weird. A tree, if you could call it a tree, was standing gnarled in the centre of the cavern. It had no leaves to be seen, but think ancient roots wound and crunched their way into the cold rock surrounding it, dipping in and out of the stone as if it was made of nothing but soft soil. The actual trunk of the tree was as thick as a car, but perhaps strangest of all, the branches of the tree instead of shooting out horizontally like normal, continued up and covered the roof of the cavern. Like the roots, its branches wound through the rock and around the stalactites, which made Arthur wonder which was here first- the tree or the cave.

Because the tree did look ancient. As soon a he had stepped out of the box of the lift, the doors closed and the little light above it indicated that it was now travelling back up towards the surface. Arthur swallowed. He took another step deeper into the cave. The ground curved downwards slightly so that the floor turned into a shallow dome, and his breath curled in front of his face as a mini fog.

_What are you doing Arthur? Go back up that lift right now and forget this- you could get caught!_

But ever since a child his curiosity for adventure had got the better of him, despite his father's warnings. He wondered what his father would say if he saw him now… his own son, sneaking around technically his military base like a common man.

Before he could talk himself out of it, he made his way deeper into the cave. Careful not to slip on the slightly wet rock, and stepping over a root or two (or was it a branch?) he went up to some computers that were dotted around the cave. Arthur couldn't make hide or hair of what the computer were showing, but he would bet any amount of money that they were monitoring that tree. Large coils of thick wire snaked their way across the ground until they disappeared beneath the tree. Over 30 different screens all clicked and whirred to each other, filling the space with an odd electronic echo. What on earth was all the fuss about?

Mentally batting away his father's outraged voice in his head, he cautiously took a step closer to the trunk. As he stepped under the thicker canopy of its branches a deep, resonating hum seemed to fill the air, and Arthur swallowed dryly as some sort of electricity that seemed to seep from the tree itself made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. As he got closer and closer to the very trunk of the tree, the feeling became stronger and stronger, until it felt that as if a living current of energy was flowing through his veins. He shivered, but this time not from the cold.

Dare he? Very very slowly, making sure that none of his body touched the twisted mass of roots that surrounded him, he took of his leather glove and as carefully as he could lightly touched the trunk of the tree with his index finger.

_Arthur._

A voice, tinged with power and age rushed its way into his mind. Acting on instinct he yelped and immediately took his hand off the wood, clamping his hands over his ears, stepping back and slipping on the water worn floor. He cried out as his head hit the hard ground and the world swam out of view for a second. He lay there, counting for a minute to distract him from the throbbing pain in the back of his head. Gingerly, he felt the throbbing area at the back of his head where it had hit the ground. He bought it round to his eyes relieved that there was no blood. What did spike his interest though, was the scorch marks on his index finger where he had touched the tree. Bringing his finger closer for a further inspection, he noticed that the lines which made up his print were completely gone, as if burned away. Did the tree do that? And what the hell was that voice? He sat up and pulled his discarded glove towards him. He eyed the tree warily as he did so. He wondered whether he would only hear the voice when he touched the tree with his bare skin.

To say that he was not freaked out about a tree saying his name was an understatement, but at this point his curiosity for the situation had completely taken over the rational part of his mind. There was something familiar about that voice, like a memory out of the corner of his minds eye that whenever he turned around to look at it was gone. Something hard was pressing into his leg, and standing up he realized it was one of the cables from the throng of computers. Following its path with his eyes, he realized that not only this one, but several wires that all lead in the same direction to the other side of the tree.

Ducking under a ridiculously thick branch that arched through the air like a small bridge, he gingerly followed the tubes. They wound their way over and under the braches of the tree and Arthur, very glad of the protection his thick expensive clothes gave him so he did not touch the tree, followed them. He felt as small as an ant as he maneuvered his way through the wooden maze of roots, until he had finally made his way round to the other side. Kneeling down, he could see that all the wires converged into one place, through a lit hole in the trunk were it met the stone ground. It was a tunnel! Coming closer, he tried to peer through to see what was inside, but the tunnel, barely big enough for a grown adult to fit through, curved slightly up as to block off his view of the inside of the trunk.

Glancing back around him, making sure that no-one saw that what he was doing, and hardly believing it himself, he started to shuffle his way along the passage. As soon as he entered, the hum coming from the tree seemed to increase in noise and pitch, making it seem as though a particularly annoying insect was bussing infuriatingly close to his ear. Making sure the bare skin of his head did not touch the top of the tunnel, he shuffled along, grateful for the light that was positioned at the end, giving him a marker for how much longer he was to be in this uncomfortable position.

The light was very dim- only lit by a small bulb attached to the wall of the tree. Reaching the edge he hauled himself up into the inside of the tree, only to be greeted nose to nose by another person facing the entrance. He jumped out of his skin and was just about to start apologizing incessantly (even though he had a right to be anywhere), when he realized that the person hadn't moved. In fact, he was completely silent, standing very close to the wall in front of him.

Eyes adjusting to the sparse light, and his heart beating uncomfortably loud in his chest, he edged closer. Squinting his eyes, he realized that in fact it wasn't a person at all, but a carving straight from the tree itself. Indeed, it was so life-like that Arthur could swear that he could hear its heart beat. His body (for the carving was of a man) seemed to melt straight from out the tree itself, for it was a wonder of a carving, making it seem as if the man had grown naturally like that. A tingle of fear crept down his spine when Arthur realized that that might be exactly the case.

He swallowed, and furrowed his eyes when something about the wood-man seemed oddly familiar. His body, though standing, seemed to be kneeling slightly, as if sitting into the tree. His arms curled tightly around the wall of the tree with long fingers, and his face seemed thin and fragile. High cheekbones and a mass of hair that stood on end in some places. His brows were furrowed together in a permanent contortion, and his eyes were scrunched as he grit his teeth. He gave the impression of a person who had frozen as he was experiencing great pain of some kind. He wore odd clothes, which seemed to be dating back to a Pre-Raphaelite era. They were fine quality yet well worn, and crumpled somewhat.

The wiring which he had followed were clipped to various parts of the mans body, mainly to his hands…

_Wait…_

He bent down until his face was mere inches form the carvings hand, and from this close he could see even closer detail of lines on the hand to cuticles on the nails, but what distracted him the most was of a ring the man wore. A ring, made form several bands of what he supposed should have been different metals was exquisitely etched onto the carving. Taking off his glove, he looked down to his own ring. _The exact same ring._

"What the hell?" he murmured to himself. How can a seemingly ancient carving be wearing the exact same ring as he had? His own ring, a family heirloom, was something of a mystery- as for the fact than no-one really knew from when it had dated from and who's it originally was. Everyone presumed it wasn't that old, as the bands of metal would have rubbed down from use- but how old actually was it? Was this carving an ancient relative of his? They looked nothing alike, but if this carving was as old as he guessed it was then it was quite possible that they looked nothing alike.

Without thinking and acting out on an undeniable impulse, he lifted his hand and gently, completely forgetting what had happened last time he had touched any part of the tree with his now ungloved hand, and was just about to touch the man when suddenly-

_HMMMMMM _the distinctive sound of the lift descending started to echo around the cavern.

"Shit!" he murmured to himself. He stood stock still, listening in terror. If anyone found him in this room which even he defiantly wasn't aloud in he would be big trouble- least of all to his father. _Its fine _he thought. _Just stay here, don't move and no-one will notice you. _His heart beating in his chest, he listened to the sounds of what sounded like two guards getting out of the lift. His breathing was so loud that he clamped his hands over his mouth and prayed that they would go away. He was so stupid! What was he thinking just swaggering around in a top secret military base? Yea great job Arthur, wonder off during a collage trip _because you were bored._

He could hear talking, and one of the men laughed with the other and after what seemed an impossible lifetime of age the sound of the lift going back up again. He sighed, relieved, and without thinking leaned against the carving in relief.

Almost at once, there was a sickening _crunch _of breaking wood and Arthur first thought he had broken this probably priceless carving but when he actually saw what was happening the truth was so much worse. The wood, as if alive, was peeling itself off the man. Small strips of it seemed to curl up and whither into nothing as if time had suddenly caught up on them. Arthur knelt, transfixed in horror and shock, as the very first pale tips of the mans fingers began to show, and then a hand, and then an arm. The slow transformation moved from each limb slowly growing to his chest and then to his face, each centimeter of his body shivering as if it had never been so alive. And finally, the mans face was clean and he breathed in his first ragged impossible breath for what probably was a millennia. Arthur could only gape.

The world seemed to be holding its breath. The man did nothing but breathe deep breaths of air as if it was the most wonderful thing. Slowly, ever so slowly, the man opened his eyes. Arthur could have sworn that for a moment they glowed gold but then they were fixed on his eyes and Arthur could see they were blue. They did nothing but stare at each other for what seemed forever but must have only been a second.

It was strange, but again Arthur could have _sworn _that he recognized him. The impossible being opened his mouth to speak, maybe to voice the same thing, but instead decided to crumple to the ground in an unconscious heap and said no more.


End file.
